Katsa
Katsa is the main protagonist of Graceling. She has one blue eye and one green eyeRevealed in Graceling, page 21 and dark hair. She is initially believed to be Graced with killing. Her uncle is King Randa of the Middluns, and her cousin and good friend is Prince Raffin. Biography Family lineage Katsa's mother and father died when she was very young, before her eyes had even settled: her mother died from a fever, the same one who took Katsa's aunt, Raffin's mother, and her father was killed in a Westeran raid on a Nanderan village he had volunteered to defend. Both her parents were gone before she even spoke a single word. King Randa kept his niece to live in his castle, with his son, Raffin. Childhood She was raised in the castle, with little supervision. She found companionship with Raffin, and she would sneak through the castle's hidden passageways with him, or help him with experiments, until Bann took that duty from her. Her childhood effectively ended when she was eight years old, when her Grace revealed itself. Discovery of her Grace When Katsa was eight, a distant cousin of hers visited the court. Katsa hadn't liked him; he treated women badly, leering and touching them. He began to pay attention to Katsa, and once, as he pondered the nature of her Grace, he touched her thigh. Katsu spun around and smashed him in the face so hard that he died instantly from having the bones of his nose shoved into his brain. Instead of banishing her, King Randa punished her with three weeks of solitude in her chambers, realizing that a Graceling of killing could be useful. Helda, a nursery worker with a Graced son of her own, offered to be Katsa's servant in times of need, unfazed by the killer girl. They soon formed a friendship. Training With Raffin's advice, young Katsa went to Oll, the spymaster. He started her training first with dummies, filled with grain, and with prisoners Oll brought to her, "men whose deaths were already decreed." "She learned her own speed and her explosive force. She learned the angle, position, and intensity of a killing blow versus a maiming blow. She learned how to disarm a man and how to break his leg, and how to twist his arm so severely that he would stop struggling and beg for release. She learned to fight with a sword and with knives and daggers. She was so fast and focused, so creative, she could find a way to beat a man senseless with both arms tied to her sides. Such was her Grace." Eventually, her skill grew so drastically, the art of her own body so perfected, that she began to practice on eight or ten soldiers at a time, all in full body armour, without even so much as a knife to defend herself. She would take them down one by one, in hand-to-hand combat. Eventually, Randa grew satisfied with her progress, and decided to put Katsa to use. Randa's Dog When the King of the Middluns decided to employ his niece, she had been ten years old. Katsa had been ordered to kill an underlord spy in public, without weapons. He had wanted a bloody spectacle to start her forced reign of terror. Katsa had led the man to kneel, and snapped his neck without more than an instant of pain. Once Randa realized her dissent, he began making more clear and concise orders for her killing and maiming. She had then, for six years, carried out all of his orders, miserably building Randa's reputation and her own for cruelty. The Making of the Council In her sixteenth year, Katsa was suddenly overcome with the idea of doing good, of helping the people in the gruesome stories Oll told her of the horrors and injustices in the other kingdoms. There was no way out of Randa's ordered punishments, but there was a way to at least do something useful with her Grace. She brought the idea to Oll and Raffin, and they sent her on her first mission. And her second, and third. Her missions inspired others, and attracted more people to her cause, kept in secret. They worked and fought in the name of the Council, and it had become so large in only a matter of months that Katsa was no longer the sole executor of the missions. It was an endeavor that spanned through the entire lands. Graceling On a mission for the Council, Katsa, Oll, and Giddon travel to King Murgon's dungeons in Sunder to rescue the Lienid Prince Tealiff held captive inside them. Katsa encounters a mysterious Lienid man on her way out of the city who recognizes her, Graced with fighting, but she quickly knocks him unconscious. They return to Randa City and pass the old man into Prince Raffin's care, utilizing his knowledge of the medicines to nurse the man back to health. The three ride quickly out again to perform the task King Randa sent them off for, having used it as a cover for their rescue in Murgon. Once in front of Randa's chosen victim, Katsa decides not to cut his fingers off, as the King had ordered, and knocks him out instead, feeling suddenly tired with his orders and exhibiting a rare instance of disobedience. Returning to Randa City, she discovers the Lienid prince from Sunder has arrived, proclaiming to be looking for his grandfather, the missing Prince Tealiff. Katsa finds herself to be enamored with him, particularly his startling Graceling eyes. Character Personality References Category:Characters